tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82035425729075887102018-02-04T08:59:21.826-08:00The CrawlspaceYour source for horror, thriller, sci-fi and fantasy
literature reviews &amp; spotlights!Depraved Indifferencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13770858255423041643noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203542572907588710.post-90122913703794358512017-10-11T16:13:00.000-07:002017-10-11T16:13:36.370-07:00Such a Dark Thing: The Blog<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SGF-qb9Ai9o/Wd6lOJtYZxI/AAAAAAAABrs/WfaIhBzs9LkT-lOeVZcySFgdl-u-onVaQCLcBGAs/s1600/BANNER.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="147" data-original-width="1079" height="53" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SGF-qb9Ai9o/Wd6lOJtYZxI/AAAAAAAABrs/WfaIhBzs9LkT-lOeVZcySFgdl-u-onVaQCLcBGAs/s400/BANNER.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />If you're looking for more interesting reads, my new blog can be found over at <a href="https://suchadarkthing.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Such A Dark Thing: The Blog</a>. Enjoy!Depraved Indifferencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13770858255423041643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203542572907588710.post-82988147551277871812012-05-29T19:01:00.000-07:002012-05-29T19:02:53.672-07:00Review: Unholy Night by Seth Grahame-SmithReview by Jess Peacock<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QAOC3UN7-cs/T8V72z62eMI/AAAAAAAAAqY/3O80jAlg5n0/s1600/12954783.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="212" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QAOC3UN7-cs/T8V72z62eMI/AAAAAAAAAqY/3O80jAlg5n0/s320/12954783.jpg" /></a></div>Seth Grahame-Smith has quickly become the current “it” boy du jour, and it’s not difficult to see why. After dipping his toe into the literary scene with the overtly self-aware <i>How to Survive a Horror Movie</i>, Grahame-Smith single-handedly established the horror/historical literary mash-up craze with the delightful <i>Pride and Prejudice and Zombies</i>, followed by the excellent <i>Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter</i> (my review of which can be read <a href="http://thecrawlspaceonline.blogspot.com/2010/06/review-abraham-lincoln-vampire-hunter.html">here</a>). Both novels caught the attention of idea deficient Hollywood, and the author quickly found his respective brainchildren in the hands of producers Natalie Portman (yep, <i>that</i> Natalie Portman) and Tim Burton, the former now in development hell, the latter on its way to your closest googleplex this summer. In addition, Burton tapped Grahame-Smith to write the poorly received <i>Dark Shadows</i> remake, as well as to construct a sequel to the director’s sophomore hit <i>Beetlejuice</i>.<br /><br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1fACEWtB6gU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />One might think that with the amount of attention and success Grahame-Smith is experiencing that he might now be looking to stretch himself as an artist and as a novelist. Unfortunately, his latest historical reimagining, <i>Unholy Night</i>, serves more as a film treatment than a novel of any depth or substance, with the most minimum of character development propelling the story through to its abrupt and hastily developed paint-by-numbers conclusion.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rZy3jHsGlXo/T8V8hyVQkNI/AAAAAAAAAqk/_0qacJJY0Ls/s1600/2193294-inigomontoya1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rZy3jHsGlXo/T8V8hyVQkNI/AAAAAAAAAqk/_0qacJJY0Ls/s320/2193294-inigomontoya1.jpg" /></a></div>The novel tells the story of Balthazar, a thief who, along with two others of his ilk, cross paths with a certain history shattering baby in a manger, and must ultimately pool their talents and skills to evade their murderous common enemy, King Herod. While undoubtedly an interesting alternative historical (or fictional, depending on your religious beliefs) premise with regard to the tale of the three wise men in Christian scripture, the story ultimately falls flat, and one gets the distinct impression that Grahame-Smith hoped that the fusing of story elements from the <i>Pirates of the Caribbean</i> and <i>The Prince of Persia</i> might elevate the novel to something greater than the sum of its parts. Hell, even a key plot point from <i>The Princess Bride</i> serves as the primary motivator for the protagonist of the novel (“You killed my <strike>father</strike> brother, prepare to die.”)<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iGNo604vXZ4/T8V9na9Z6gI/AAAAAAAAAqw/R2Nh1ssVgtE/s1600/SithC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="121" width="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iGNo604vXZ4/T8V9na9Z6gI/AAAAAAAAAqw/R2Nh1ssVgtE/s200/SithC.jpg" /></a></div>In addition, Grahame-Smith seems to fumble the more interesting aspects of his novel, particularly the last Magus and the dark powers at his disposal. A potentially epic, Sith-like villain that could have brought so much more to the overall narrative, the occult abilities of the sinister wizard fail to serve as anything more than a convenient apparatus to keep a shoehorned-into-the-story Pontius Pilate on track in his promotion motivated pursuit of the fleeing thieves and the defenseless offspring of God. In other words, there were countless opportunities for unique and fascinating explorations in this world that were left untouched, overlooked, or simply not utilized toward what could have been the realization of the full potential of the story. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YKVNAff8JGs/T8V-KMNJvyI/AAAAAAAAAq8/r9gRT-OHue0/s1600/seth_grahame_smith.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="199" width="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YKVNAff8JGs/T8V-KMNJvyI/AAAAAAAAAq8/r9gRT-OHue0/s320/seth_grahame_smith.jpg" /></a></div>This is not to say that <i>Unholy Night</i> falls entirely flat, quite the contrary. As a summer read, it quite adequately serves its purpose as a kinetic yarn, and readers on the lookout for a mindless adventure will find much to be happy about. Unfortunately Grahame-Smith could have given us a lot more meat on this predictable, safe, and entirely conventional bone.Depraved Indifferencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13770858255423041643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203542572907588710.post-61206391134908425652012-05-28T16:44:00.001-07:002012-05-29T18:34:08.329-07:00Review: The Cabin in the Woods (novelization) by Tim LebbonReview by Jess Peacock<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WnEMV4BITmA/T8QFeT_8_HI/AAAAAAAAAoY/tYBxBbeOIYs/s1600/Novelization_The-Cabin-in-the-Woods_042012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="195" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WnEMV4BITmA/T8QFeT_8_HI/AAAAAAAAAoY/tYBxBbeOIYs/s320/Novelization_The-Cabin-in-the-Woods_042012.jpg" /></a></div><b>“It’s symbolism that’s important, never truth.” – the Director</b><br /><br />In some sense, it is difficult to review <i>The Cabin in the Woods</i> novelization without actually reviewing the film it is based on. More or less transcribed directly from the shooting script, the novel is solely the intellectual property of scriptwriters Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon, with the job of adding some literary flesh and cartilage falling to brit novelist Tim Lebbon (<i>Berserk, 30 Days of Night: Fear of the Dark</i>). Therefore, perhaps it might make sense to briefly discuss the film and the metaphorical treasures within.<br /><br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qLeQ4WytAqs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6ju1_RZyqBo/T8QKErSaP_I/AAAAAAAAAo0/5HvSrc4wBm0/s1600/drew-goddard-joss-whedon-the-cabin-in-the-woods-image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="133" width="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6ju1_RZyqBo/T8QKErSaP_I/AAAAAAAAAo0/5HvSrc4wBm0/s200/drew-goddard-joss-whedon-the-cabin-in-the-woods-image.jpg" /></a></div><i>The Cabin in the Woods</i> has been widely praised by critics and fans for many reasons: from its deconstruction of traditional horror tropes, to its critique of our contemporary surveillance society, to a scathing rebuke of the cultural obsession with youth and ultimately our subconscious desire to destroy that youth. Missing from the conversation, however, is what Whedon and co-writer/director Goddard have to say about the unspoken, dark, and more horrific elements of religion. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9Z_rGNMMKdc/T8QKUuZ2VGI/AAAAAAAAApA/xCTr0FI5j-8/s1600/H-P-Lovecraft-Cthulu-horror-movies-7330752-500-647.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="247" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9Z_rGNMMKdc/T8QKUuZ2VGI/AAAAAAAAApA/xCTr0FI5j-8/s320/H-P-Lovecraft-Cthulu-horror-movies-7330752-500-647.jpg" /></a></div>It is important to note the similarities that Goddard and Whedon’s deities within <i>The Cabin in the Woods</i> share with the Elder Gods of the sprawling mythos imagined into mythhistory by H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft believed that the contemporary horror genre has emerged in its present form as a bifurcated doppelganger to modern religion, a malevolent (although essential) compartment that the devout keep at arms length, while using it to compile their unspoken and unrealized fears about the shadow side of the Divine. Lovecraft himself wrote in <i>The Call of Cthulhu</i>:<br /><br /><blockquote>The most merciful thing in the world…is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The science, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.</blockquote><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cVwXVlZOHEA/T8QLw3y5w6I/AAAAAAAAApM/kAZ57UjHhGs/s1600/isaac_sacrifice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="214" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cVwXVlZOHEA/T8QLw3y5w6I/AAAAAAAAApM/kAZ57UjHhGs/s320/isaac_sacrifice.jpg" /></a></div>The unspeakable reality of the Divine that takes amorphous shape in the Lovecraftian mythos may in some ways reflect the equally indescribable horrific elements of God that have been knowingly obfuscated and shifted to the outright (and therefore easily dismissed) horror genre. Make no mistake, western religion and western horror are dueling discourses on the unknown, of what lies beyond human reason and understanding, an issue at the forefront of <i>The Cabin in the Woods</i>. From the sacrificial bloodshed in the Hebrew Bible to appease a vengeful God, to the ongoing metaphorical cannibalistic offering of obedience presented by Jesus to his followers, Whedon and Goddard highlight how the requirement of blood sacrifice by a deity presents unquestioned (at least for the religious) horrors, as this diabolic aspect of scripture has either had its fangs dulled through the need for palatable and civilized religious services, or altogether ignored entirely by contemporary faith communities. As a result of this Jungian suppression of the dark side of the Divine, the horror genre has emerged as the shadow of religion, quite literally it would seem in the world of <i>The Cabin in the Woods</i>. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I3cHTuavKxs/T8QMH_cR3OI/AAAAAAAAApY/KWXEWvxyJ5I/s1600/The%2BCabin%2Bin%2BThe%2BWoods%2Bhopko%2Bdesigns.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="216" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I3cHTuavKxs/T8QMH_cR3OI/AAAAAAAAApY/KWXEWvxyJ5I/s320/The%2BCabin%2Bin%2BThe%2BWoods%2Bhopko%2Bdesigns.jpg" /></a></div>Unfortunately, Lebbon never expands on these or any other fascinating concepts at play within <i>The Cabin in the Woods</i>, serving, rather, only as a glorified court reporter for curious bibliophiles and fans of the film who might be hoping for additional insight into the world of the antiseptic and mundane eldritch corporate hierarchy instilled to keep the sinister numinous of the cosmic unknown at bay. In addition, the whip-smart dialogue of the film is often bogged down by the somewhat clunky prose and pace of Lebbon who is no doubt hoping to put his own stamp on this latest addition to the Whedonverse. <br /><br />Despite a poor showing at the box-office, Whedon and Goddard have undoubtedly constructed an amazing journey into the darker and more horrific aspects of our culture, exploring how and why genre efforts might serve as more than simple mindless escapism and could ultimately be a lens through which to view the human condition. Unfortunately, this fails to translate effectively in the literary effort by Tim Lebbon, as the author serves only as a tour guide and less philosopher/theologian.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VlIq6erFTag/T8QMo8UUuXI/AAAAAAAAApw/J5lZPih6x_U/s1600/citwheader.jpg.size-525_maxheight-346.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="103" width="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VlIq6erFTag/T8QMo8UUuXI/AAAAAAAAApw/J5lZPih6x_U/s200/citwheader.jpg.size-525_maxheight-346.jpg" /></a></div>NOTE: This is not the issue, however, with the excellent <i>The Cabin in the Woods: The Official Visual Companion</i>. Easter Eggs abound in countless interviews with crew, actors, and the writer/producer/director team of Goddard and Whedon. In addition, each page is filled with gorgeous full-color photos that allow the reader to explore every nook and cranny of the narrative, including a myriad of creatures only briefly caught on film (or not at all) and a vivid view of the infamous betting board (just who/what is Kevin??)<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A21pZ_225fc/T8QM_H-bZNI/AAAAAAAAAqI/tLOcZEpjBqA/s1600/cabinboard__span.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="229" width="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A21pZ_225fc/T8QM_H-bZNI/AAAAAAAAAqI/tLOcZEpjBqA/s400/cabinboard__span.jpg" /></a></div>Depraved Indifferencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13770858255423041643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203542572907588710.post-33579866255663509642012-05-26T18:10:00.000-07:002012-05-26T18:14:09.235-07:00Movie Review: The AvengersReview by Jess Peacock<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yFX-W4jpnzs/T8F2HWbpW5I/AAAAAAAAAmc/dk2ILiTtnwI/s1600/the-avengers-mondo-poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yFX-W4jpnzs/T8F2HWbpW5I/AAAAAAAAAmc/dk2ILiTtnwI/s320/the-avengers-mondo-poster.jpg" /></a></div>At one point in the new Marvel film <i>The Avengers</i>, ubiquitous SHIELD agent Coulson tells Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, that SHIELD has updated his classic suit with a few modifications. Rogers asks, “Isn’t the stars and stripes a little old fashioned?” At which point Coulson, an avowed fanboy of Cap, tells him that maybe, just maybe, old fashioned is what the world needs right now. And herein lies the magic of writer/director Joss Whedon’s approach to the record smashing live action superhero mash-up: old fashioned fun that hearkens back to the Halcyon days of the cinematic game changer <i>Star Wars</i>.<br /><br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NPoHPNeU9fc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />Nerd-god Whedon knows who the Avengers are, what they have been, and where they need to go. As such, he avoids the mistake of reinterpreting the mega-team through a post-modern, nihilistic lens, a trap too often ensnaring other contemporary superhero projects. Neither does Whedon devolve into camp (cough<i>GreenLantern</i>). Rather, he allows the characters to play in a world and respond to a threat that Marvel has brilliantly pieced together since the release of <i>Ironman</i> in 2008. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JaI8AE4uQhQ/T8F30OJwdrI/AAAAAAAAAm0/9x2vz6glJlA/s1600/4-30-12-The-Avengers_full_600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="134" width="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JaI8AE4uQhQ/T8F30OJwdrI/AAAAAAAAAm0/9x2vz6glJlA/s200/4-30-12-The-Avengers_full_600.jpg" /></a></div>Ultimately, Whedon is somehow able to achieve this while giving every major hero their rightful due, not allowing the considerable presence of Robert Downey Jr. to overshadow the fact that this is a team-up film (a super-powered feat in its own right). And it <i>works</i>. At the start of the film, these characters are at cross-purposes, with their own agendas and egos blinding them to the larger developing threat. Steve Rogers is seemingly adrift in contemporary society; Tony Stark is focused on, well, Tony Stark; Thor is unable to see past his Asgardian responsibilities; and Bruce Banner just wants to be left alone in exile. As the gamma fueled doctor describes them, the Avengers are an unbalanced chemical mixture ready to explode…and the results may not be what Samuel L. Jackson’s manipulative and heroically amoral Nick Fury was hoping for.<br /><br />Some reviews have complained that the first half of the film is paced too slow, that Whedon seems to get wrapped up in his own whip smart dialogue and fanboy glee at seeing these characters on screen for the first time in history. Unfortunately, this might be the Michael Bay effect so prevalent in modern action cinema, a terminal illness that demands a giant explosion destroying a major national landmark every two and a half minutes. Yes, <i>The Avengers</i> ultimately gets to the explosion-y goodness, and satisfyingly so. However, Whedon presciently lays the groundwork for something far more important in the film and the Marvel universe writ large: community.<br /><br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/v7ssUivM-eM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />Make no mistake, Joss Whedon’s fingerprints may be all over the aforementioned dialogue, however, it is his focus on the building of community that truly lies at the heart of <i>The Avengers</i>. Disparate ideologies coming together to serve a singular purpose is a staple motif of the Whedonverse (e.g. <i>Firefly</i>, which also seems to have influenced the look of SHIELD’s flying tech), and is the narrative engine that powers <i>The Avengers</i>. Why would an avowed capitalist, a jingoistic patriot, an introvert with anger management issues, and a demi-god who is quite literally above it all, ultimately decide to work together or even deign to be in the same room with one another? To say much more would be to venture into spoiler territory, but rest assured, the enmeshing of these considerable egos and powers feels organic and rather awe-inspiring (note: to witness the culmination of this new community, stick around to the very end of the credits for bonus clip deux).<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--2YO6kYHn0k/T8F6OLKf8kI/AAAAAAAAAnY/RdsFZmXigLA/s1600/the-avengers-joss-whedon-captain-america-shield-image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="267" width="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--2YO6kYHn0k/T8F6OLKf8kI/AAAAAAAAAnY/RdsFZmXigLA/s400/the-avengers-joss-whedon-captain-america-shield-image.jpg" /></a></div><br />None of it would ultimately be possible, however, without the presence of Tom Hiddleston and his maniacal return as Loki. A dark, more twisted God of Mischief than we previously witnessed in <i>Thor</i>, Hiddleston brings to the “big bad” of the film a demonic glee and palpable excitement as he schemes, murders, and manipulates the Avengers on his way to becoming the ruler of all of Midgard. His interactions with each hero reveal a mind that is truly lost and so desperate to be a king, a king of <i>anything</i>, that he is unable to see that he is himself a puppet in a larger cosmic scheme revealed in a truly nerdtastic post-credits denouement (are you really going <i>there</i>, Marvel??)<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DKpZiFfUsQw/T8F9EqcTh9I/AAAAAAAAAoI/mDRiC6WCcrc/s1600/The-Avengers-Loki-scene.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="192" width="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DKpZiFfUsQw/T8F9EqcTh9I/AAAAAAAAAoI/mDRiC6WCcrc/s200/The-Avengers-Loki-scene.jpg" /></a></div>Aside from a somewhat generic score, <i>The Avengers</i> is a perfect superhero film in every way. While box-office receipts are no indication of the quality of a movie, the Hulk-smashing $200 million domestic weekend and $600 million twelve day worldwide haul (now exceeding $1-billion) is an indicator that moviegoers will respond to smart scripts that treat the fan and the property with respect. Marvel’s multi-year plan, building to what was previously an unthinkable cinematic scenario, is now playing out before the eyes of the world, and the overwhelming response is a testament to the vision, focus, and, yes, <i>love</i> of these heroes and gods of the new age brought to life by Marvel and the true hero of the day, Joss Whedon. <br />Depraved Indifferencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13770858255423041643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203542572907588710.post-81875730799600035812011-08-23T15:50:00.000-07:002011-10-14T15:27:01.965-07:00Review: Monsters In America by W. Scott PooleReview by Jess Peacock<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wjj39qSRkvI/TlQxE26X34I/AAAAAAAAAmE/dWqp_5gmJ-4/s1600/135386_10150103655610535_595850534_7753862_5858928_o.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wjj39qSRkvI/TlQxE26X34I/AAAAAAAAAmE/dWqp_5gmJ-4/s320/135386_10150103655610535_595850534_7753862_5858928_o.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644190192531660674" /></a>Nobody could be blamed for mistaking <span style="font-style:italic;"><a href="http://www.baylorpress.com/monstersinamerica/">Monsters In America</a></span> for a book that it simply is not. Whether a result of the title itself, or the gnarled trees shrouded in an ominous fog serving as the cover art, this is not some compendium of hauntings in the heartland or a documentation of personal eyewitnesses to the antics of the Jersey Devil. Author and history professor W. Scott Poole has constructed a work that is far more in-depth, scholarly and imaginative than any throw-away bargain bin schlock that fills the bookshelves every autumn, and has set the bar ridiculously high for any future research exploring the locus of historical and cultural studies, particularly as it pertains to the horrific.<br /><br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/H0WpKl2A_2k" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />Equal parts thoughtful and frightening, <span style="font-style:italic;">Monsters In America</span> explores the darkest recesses of American history, using the distorted reflection of fictional monstrosities to tease out the true horror of this nation’s unflattering past, ideologies, and political & religious nightmares uniquely suited to these shores. Poole writes:<br /><blockquote>Monsters are “meaning machines,” excavating all manner of cultural productions depending on their context and their historical moment. In American history they have been symbols of deviance, objects of sympathy, and even images of erotic desire. They structured the enslavement of African Americans, constructed notions of crime and deviance, and provided mental fodder for the culture wars of the contemporary period.</blockquote><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CusAkSVTY1M/TlQynfbOdzI/AAAAAAAAAmU/CkT5Y0M6P9I/s1600/289542_10150329446035535_595850534_9764298_3441550_o.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CusAkSVTY1M/TlQynfbOdzI/AAAAAAAAAmU/CkT5Y0M6P9I/s200/289542_10150329446035535_595850534_9764298_3441550_o.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644191887034054450" /></a><span style="font-style:italic;">Monsters In America</span> is not a simple Sunday stroll through analogous genre icons as they pertain to interesting footnotes in American history. Poole has written an important text that serves as a clarion call for readers to closely examine the commonly accepted narrative of history that has been steadily spoon fed to a people who want to, <span style="font-style:italic;">need</span> to, believe in the overt goodness of America. Monsters, Poole successfully argues, serve to pull back the membranous protective tissue of historical revisionism to reveal the charnel house of injustice and lies found beneath. As Poole so eloquently writes, “American exceptionalism and innocence are nothing but happy bedtime stories for children rightfully afraid of the dark.”<br /><br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nV69KpW5_cU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />From Mary Shelley’s <span style="font-style:italic;">Frankenstein</span> serving as a metaphor of slave rebellion, to the monstrous Saturday matinee mutations standing in for the horrors of The Love Canal tragedy, to a resurgence in the popularity of the <span style="font-style:italic;">Universal</span> Monsters in the 1970’s serving as an anchor for kids living through the “restructuring of American family demographics,” <span style="font-style:italic;">Monsters In America</span> challenges, enlightens, and, quite honestly, frightens in its prescient view of American history, as well as the seeming ubiquity of the monsters of our past and probable future.<br /><br /><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/28475037?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0" width="400" height="225" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/28475037">Monsters in America | Our Historical Obsession with the Hideous and the Haunting</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/baylorpress">Baylor University Press</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>Depraved Indifferencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13770858255423041643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203542572907588710.post-38257380184577446152011-08-22T19:26:00.000-07:002011-10-14T15:28:11.126-07:00Cellar Dweller Review: Midnight Mass by F. Paul WilsonReview by Jess Peacock<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p8RUcUo5iXY/TlMQiWLB5LI/AAAAAAAAAlM/5KTpjUJPido/s1600/midnight-mass-f-paul-wilson-hardcover-cover-art.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 303px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p8RUcUo5iXY/TlMQiWLB5LI/AAAAAAAAAlM/5KTpjUJPido/s400/midnight-mass-f-paul-wilson-hardcover-cover-art.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5643872940278801586" /></a><a href="http://www.repairmanjack.com/">F. Paul Wilson’s</a> <span style="font-style:italic;">Midnight Mass</span> is actually three books, or, perhaps more accurately, three genres, in one. The first half of the novel is horror writing at its finest, leaping out of the shadows on page one and relentlessly chasing the reader through the darkened streets of their imagination until it deftly transitions into a metaphysical musing on what it means to be human. From there, Wilson’s storytelling violently downshifts into an action soaked revenge tale couched in the nightmare world of a vampire apocalypse. <br /><br />Lamenting the absence of truly ghastly vampires in the horror genre, or, as Wilson describes in an author’s note preceding <span style="font-style:italic;">Midnight Mass</span>, “the soulless, merciless, parasitic creatures we all knew and loved,” the author set out to pen a tale that countered “the tortured romantic aesthetes who have been passing lately for vampires.” On all counts, Wilson succeeded at constructing a work that has continued to be underappreciated over the last seven years, finding itself seemingly lost in the shadow of his wildly popular <span style="font-style:italic;">Repairman Jack</span> series.<br /><br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/IGrpoxBlCNo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />In all likelihood having influenced David Soznowski’s equally wonderful novel <span style="font-style:italic;">Vamped</span> and the sub-genre busting Spierig Brothers film <span style="font-style:italic;">Daybreakers</span>, <span style="font-style:italic;">Midnight Mass</span> introduces a world where humankind suddenly finds itself teetering on annihilation at the hands of a swift and violent vampiric worldwide assault. Save for a few regions of the United States where the undead have not yet sunk their teeth into, inhabitants of communities around the globe are relegated to camoflaging their existence as best they can, or serving as blood cattle for the new dominant species.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N55y_MO9UOY/TlMRU_t84pI/AAAAAAAAAlc/hzUuZIPkf30/s1600/wilson.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 184px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N55y_MO9UOY/TlMRU_t84pI/AAAAAAAAAlc/hzUuZIPkf30/s400/wilson.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5643873810424586898" /></a>Thankfully, Wilson does not attempt to post-modernize his brand of vampire. Rather, he reclaims the popular mythology associated with the monster, as evidenced when he writes, “My premise going in was that all the legends about the undead were true: they feared crosses, were killed by sunlight, were burned by holy water and crucifixes, cast no reflection, etcetera.” By embracing this traditional approach, the author swings wide open the theological door that one would have to walk through if, in fact, vampires existed. And by setting the bulk of the first half of the novel in a Catholic church under siege by the undead, and populating the pages with intelligent, determined, and tough-as-nails survivors struggling to maintain their faith amidst the gore and insanity, Wilson is able to explore spiritual questions that have every right to manifest in this type of horror novel. “But you’ve got to take the next step,” explains Father Joe, the protagonist of the novel, to his atheist niece who is wearing a crucifix around her neck for protection. “You’ve got to ask <span style="font-style:italic;">why</span> the undead fear it, <span style="font-style:italic;">why</span> it sears their flesh. There’s something <span style="font-style:italic;">there</span>. When you face that reality, you won’t be an atheist or agnostic anymore.”<br /><br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/bvLgCatPxkQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F2UrxIDu4JQ/TlMRyKaEGRI/AAAAAAAAAlk/Gz1tyETQxoo/s1600/0451451538.01._SX140_SY225_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 120px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F2UrxIDu4JQ/TlMRyKaEGRI/AAAAAAAAAlk/Gz1tyETQxoo/s200/0451451538.01._SX140_SY225_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5643874311510169874" /></a>The pleasure involved in reading a razor sharp novel celebrating the spiritual trappings of the traditional vampire aside, with <span style="font-style:italic;">Midnight Mass</span> one can blindly apply any number of positive adjectives and labels: wickedly smart, thrilling, often horrifying, emotionally draining, devastatingly violent, and surprisingly tender. Because of this, F. Paul Wilson’s addition to the undead bookshelves undoubtedly deserves to sit amidst such classics as Stephen King’s <span style="font-style:italic;">Salem’s Lot</span> and John Steakley’s <span style="font-style:italic;">Vampire$</span>, two other important literary works that explore the confluence of faith and vampirism by slamming the door on the unfortunate revisionism that has plagued the undead sub-genre for decades.<br /><br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/aIbJ2rQ59ZE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Depraved Indifferencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13770858255423041643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203542572907588710.post-73163518813430744842011-08-21T18:38:00.000-07:002011-10-14T15:29:00.757-07:00Cellar Dweller Review: Gospel of the Living Dead by Kim PaffenrothReview by Jess Peacock<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FrbvZvodWQQ/TlGz5tRPvKI/AAAAAAAAAkU/Cc0ZO4XBIYk/s1600/gospel-living-dead-kim-paffenroth-hardcover-cover-art.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FrbvZvodWQQ/TlGz5tRPvKI/AAAAAAAAAkU/Cc0ZO4XBIYk/s320/gospel-living-dead-kim-paffenroth-hardcover-cover-art.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5643489612057787554" /></a>Five years ago, <a href="http://gotld.blogspot.com/">Kim Paffenroth</a>, a professor of religious studies and author of several works of zombie fiction including the <span style="font-style:italic;">Dying to Live</span> series, penned <span style="font-style:italic;">Gospel of the Living Dead</span>, an exhaustive look at the mostly sociological and theological implications of the undead cinematic portfolio of George Romero. <br /><br />In order to thoroughly dissect the director’s work, Paffenroth examined <span style="font-style:italic;">Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Land of the Dead</span>, and even the Romero-less <span style="font-style:italic;">Dawn of the Dead</span> remake, through the lens and surprisingly similar motif of Dante’s <span style="font-style:italic;">Inferno</span>. The author writes, “Dante’s greatest and most surprising notion, that hell is not so much a place of external torments…inflicted on the damned from some force outside of themselves…both Dante’s hell and the hell of a zombie-infested earth are places where the hell is primarily internal, of our own making.”<br /><br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5gUKvmOEGCU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MVr-4C5POfc/TlG10QwEEhI/AAAAAAAAAlE/PLz809A43Y8/s1600/george_romero.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 156px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MVr-4C5POfc/TlG10QwEEhI/AAAAAAAAAlE/PLz809A43Y8/s200/george_romero.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5643491717526327826" /></a>Paffenroth proceeds to bolster this belief by analyzing the various issues at play in Romero’s zombie films (both symbolic and overt) such as sin & redemption, consumerism & materialism, racism, sexism, and class warfare to name only a few. For example, with regard to <span style="font-style:italic;">Day of the Dead</span>, the author writes, “It is not the military, government, or church that exercises real power, but the wealthy…according to Romero, the White House, the Pentagon, and the Vatican do not run or exploit the world – Wall Street does.” This type of critical analysis of what some might write off as a mindlessly violent film gives <span style="font-style:italic;">Gospel of the Living Dead</span> a resonance that a general analysis of the Romero library might not provide.<br /><br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iQGqUC707e0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-elammNjrzm4/TlG1Ors8ISI/AAAAAAAAAk0/ae8U9bsYyjI/s1600/paffenroth.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-elammNjrzm4/TlG1Ors8ISI/AAAAAAAAAk0/ae8U9bsYyjI/s200/paffenroth.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5643491071925952802" /></a>Paffenroth particularly excels when dissecting the theology of the undead, a task made particularly difficult in the light of the overt anti-religion stance George Romero has assumed over the years, both cinematically and personally. “More than any other movie monster or mythological creature,” Paffenroth writes, “zombies vividly show the state of damnation, of human life without the divine gift of reason, and without any hope of change or improvement.” It is from this subtle perspective that the author analyzes potential theological springboards in the films, avoiding, for the most part, heavy-handed allegorical images that fit only with a shoehorn and a mallet. One unfortunate lapse involved the direct comparison of Big Daddy and his zombie followers from <span style="font-style:italic;">Land of the Dead</span> crossing a protective river in order to reach the humans on the other side to the story of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea found in the Hebrew Bible.<br /><br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/283LSYvcozM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />Other than a few missteps in that vein, the only major critique with <span style="font-style:italic;">Gospel of the Living Dead</span> is the lengthy synopsis that Paffenroth provides for each film/chapter. It is probably a safe assumption that a reader of such a specifically targeted compendium already knows the referenced works of Romero, making these sections nothing more than page-count padding.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1ii8e4EIuSE/TlG1Z6MxRNI/AAAAAAAAAk8/I6yKAZ-DdCo/s1600/6a00d83451d04569e200e55338c2e18833-350wi.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 169px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1ii8e4EIuSE/TlG1Z6MxRNI/AAAAAAAAAk8/I6yKAZ-DdCo/s200/6a00d83451d04569e200e55338c2e18833-350wi.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5643491264796116178" /></a>While often overly academic in its style of prose and somewhat repetitive in its content, <span style="font-style:italic;">Gospel of the Living Dead</span> still provides sharp and important analysis of a body of work that has always had more on its mind than bloodlust and gut munching. Paffenroth takes George Romero, the horror genre, and fans of the zombie sub-genre seriously, and dives headlong into not only an apologetic of the seminal zombie series, but a true celebration of the social and theological layers buried within.<br /><br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Fc4CK9uYZ1M" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Depraved Indifferencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13770858255423041643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203542572907588710.post-53050171207436362602011-08-05T12:44:00.000-07:002017-10-31T20:33:30.451-07:00Review: The Griff by Christopher Moore and Ian Corson with Jennyson RoseroReview written by Jess Peacock<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kpNV6VTbmsI/TjxIgHy6-qI/AAAAAAAAAhk/MMgEdpem5vY/s1600/9780061977527_the_Griff24465-0_large.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5637460550246660770" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kpNV6VTbmsI/TjxIgHy6-qI/AAAAAAAAAhk/MMgEdpem5vY/s400/9780061977527_the_Griff24465-0_large.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 309px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 200px;" /></a><a href="http://www.chrismoore.com/">Christopher Moore</a> is coasting. Considered at one point to be one of the more original and cutting edge voices in genre literature, his last novel, <span style="font-style: italic;">Fool</span>, drowned in a quagmire of Shakespearian buffoonery, while his latest endeavor, the graphic novel <span style="font-style: italic;">The Griff</span>, is simply pointless and ineffectual.<br /><br />Opening with scant elucidation, a recently discovered artifact submerged in the South Atlantic Ocean shoots a mysterious beam into space, and by page three our planet is under attack from countless hordes of flesh eating dragons that resemble the mythological griffin.<br /><br />Within days, the majority of humanity has been devoured, an alien ship shows up and crashes off the coast of Florida, and a small cast of Christopher Moore stock characters wax sarcastic as they fail to contemplate the destruction of civilization, or even the death of their loved ones. Between Mo, the sharp tongued goth hottie, Steve, the awkward nerd wagging his tongue after her, and Liz, a buxom (of course) marine biologist, Moore seems to simply be regurgitating his more popular characters from previous novels.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Griff</span> suffers from many problems, not the least of which is the haphazard and confusing action that takes place on the comic panels. More often than not, the details of the action are lost with very little exposition to assist the reader in discerning what exactly is transpiring and why. Unfortunately, the character development suffers from the same lack of attention to detail, allowing the cast to coast on nothing more than snarky quips.<br /><br />In addition, the graphic novel reads more as an exercise in Christopher Moore-lite. The author is at his best when he is entirely unleashed, free to explore the depths of comedic, sexual and occult profanity that <span style="font-style: italic;">Lamb, Bloodsucking Fiends</span>, and <span style="font-style: italic;">Practical Demonkeeping</span> made him famous for. However, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Griff</span> finds Moore wearing a creative muzzle, nodding only slightly to the sexual tension between the various leads, choosing rather to focus on the uninspired and hackneyed dragon slaying that fills the pages.<br /><br />Originally written as a screenplay with Ian Corson, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Griff</span> is clichéd and worn out, with nothing separating it from the countless apocalyptic stories that have come down the pike in recent years. Existing for no other apparent reason than a quick cash grab (<span style="font-style: italic;">The Griff</span> retails for $22.99), one can only hope that Christopher Moore will break out of this apparent creative slump with his next full-length novel, <span style="font-style: italic;">Sacre Bleu</span>, due out soon.Depraved Indifferencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13770858255423041643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203542572907588710.post-54441385648745198972011-08-04T13:57:00.000-07:002011-10-14T16:06:17.646-07:00Review: Vickie Van Helsing by Solomon J. InkwellReview written by Jess Peacock<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eHfiL59gUwM/TjsIVQiOlgI/AAAAAAAAAgw/RRBCsZyQbuA/s1600/Vickie%2BCover%2BII.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 246px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eHfiL59gUwM/TjsIVQiOlgI/AAAAAAAAAgw/RRBCsZyQbuA/s320/Vickie%2BCover%2BII.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5637108519893112322" /></a>Stop me if you’ve heard this: An ancient vampiric force awakens. A teacher intent on finding the one student who can stand against the evil, a young, attractive high school girl with a secret lineage as a slayer. A “Scooby Gang” of friends who unite to prevent a wave of undead terror while dealing with the expected teen angst and cruel politics of high school. Before you blurt out <span style="font-style:italic;">Buffy the Vampire Slayer</span>, think again. This is <span style="font-style:italic;">Vickie Van Helsing</span>, written by <a href="http://www.solomoninkwell.com/">Solomon J. Inkwell</a>, the enchanted fountain pen (I wish I were kidding) of author James Grea. Which begs the question of whether you can call yourself an author if your magical pen does all the work?<br /><br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fmkSvLsFNok" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />Before this review continues, a few words of clarification: I am a critic, yes, and it can be extremely easy to sit behind a laptop and be…well…critical of the hard work of authors both famous and obscure. However, more than anything I am a fan of the horror and sci-fi genre. I want to read material that forces me back on my heels, tweaks my imagination, and transports me to an alternate reality where monsters exist, evil and hope is incarnate, and fantasies materialize in the hands of talented and competent writers. The Crawlspace is not here to shit on everything that gets sent to us, nor is it a site to rubber stamp an author who is kind enough to send us his or her work. The hope here is to simply be a tool that plays a very small part in elevating the art form. However, from time to time we receive a <span style="font-style:italic;">Vickie Van Helsing</span>.<br /><br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8rTmIhtoBac" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />Aside from blatantly ripping off the Whedonverse, author James Grea also lifts his characters directly from Bram Stoker’s novel <span style="font-style:italic;">Dracula</span>. In addition to Vickie, the direct descendant of Dr. Abraham Van Helsing, the Count is also resurrected in all his glory, as well as guest appearances by the relatives of Mina Murray and Renfield. Somehow they all apparently just happened to be living in the same neighborhood. If you are able to work your way past this absurd premise, you only have an entire novel of weak prose, shallow to nonexistent character development, and overly predictable plot points to work through.<br /><br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7Nfmh178L98" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />At this point it would be problematic to continue this review without simply eviscerating the entirety of the book, which is neither helpful nor desired. Suffice to say, there is genre work out there you should be spending your hard earned money on (see David Wellington, Bob Fingerman, David Moody, etc.) over the amateurish <span style="font-style:italic;">Vickie Van Helsing</span>. Or maybe just catch some <span style="font-style:italic;">Buffy</span> on Netflix.<br /><br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-1v_q6TWAL4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Depraved Indifferencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13770858255423041643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203542572907588710.post-29119912192925538902011-07-25T19:10:00.000-07:002011-10-14T16:40:08.418-07:00Review: Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. WatsonReview written by Jess Peacock<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VQRe30NwRaU/Ti4lKPL6SoI/AAAAAAAAAfw/my43hYZ1Tm0/s1600/before_i_go_to_sleep.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 216px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VQRe30NwRaU/Ti4lKPL6SoI/AAAAAAAAAfw/my43hYZ1Tm0/s320/before_i_go_to_sleep.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5633481041692478082" /></a>It is difficult to review a work where the critical reception is unanimous and widespread. Whether positive or negative, it can be far too easy to allow ones opinion to be influenced by the overwhelming consensus floating around the cloud. Or worse, to be the one to serve as the lone contrarian simply because the entirety of the herd is moving in a singular, lock step, direction.<br /><br />Such is the case with <a href="http://www.sjwatson-books.com/">S.J. Watson’s</a> inaugural novel <span style="font-style:italic;">Before I Go to Sleep</span>, widely praised by critics and acquired for film adaptation by Ridley Scott’s production company Scott Free. Quite literally the Amazon.com flavor of the month for June 2011, <span style="font-style:italic;">Before I Go to Sleep</span> serves as an adequate novel and a fast read. Unfortunately, that is about it.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NrPQ9QVytJA/Ti4mXP2NKzI/AAAAAAAAAgg/8YdlwSzHMJo/s1600/25_memento.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NrPQ9QVytJA/Ti4mXP2NKzI/AAAAAAAAAgg/8YdlwSzHMJo/s200/25_memento.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5633482364719803186" /></a>The novel concerns Christine, a middle-aged woman afflicted with a form of amnesia that prevents her from forming new memories. When she awakens each morning, the previous days memories are erased, leaving her in a perpetual state of emotional and societal limbo, with only her husband Ben around each morning to help sort out her bewilderment. While Christopher Nolan’s Memento (based on his brother Jonathon’s short story) similarly tread this path cinematically ten years previous, Watson initially does an excellent job of branching off in a unique direction, exploring the natural human responses of confusion, fear, anger and claustrophobia that this affliction would necessarily produce in someone such as Christine. <br /><br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2ZAKsO8wGG4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />Unfortunately, the author quickly steers the novel into standard whodunit territory. At the behest of her doctor, Christine begins a journal as a way to not only remember what is happening in her life, but also as a potential agent of healing for her fractured psyche. Due to her condition, Christine needs to read her journal each new day, and so it is with great shock that she discovers, written in her own handwriting, the words <span style="font-style:italic;">Don’t trust Ben</span> scribbled on the front page. While the novel does not necessarily fall apart at this point (the note is quickly revealed at the end of chapter one), it enters the blasé world of <span style="font-style:italic;">meh</span>, bowing to standard Hitchcockian tropes such as the unreliable narrator, unreliable supporting cast, unreliable memories, and, well, just about unreliable everything. <br /><br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Ch9Y-fcGlKs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />Without venturing too deeply into spoiler territory, Christine’s treatments from her doctor pry open memories of a life that fail to connect with her current surroundings. And her growing paranoia, while a tool of Watson’s to keep the reader off balance, proves to be justified. While this avenue provides the stimulus for what will undoubtedly be an exciting Hollywood thriller, the true psychological horrors of Christine’s affliction are touched on only briefly, a terror that, if handled correctly, might penetrate the reader at a far deeper level than mere conspiracy theories. Who are we without our memories? What do we believe about others and ourselves simply because we are conditioned to? Without a firm foundation of identity how might the slightest stimuli (external or internal) alter our daily paths? And, without sounding overly trite, what defines reality?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xaRB4fimKoA/Ti4mjmahZPI/AAAAAAAAAgo/v4xz26yEsXk/s1600/68boorev_602219t.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 204px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xaRB4fimKoA/Ti4mjmahZPI/AAAAAAAAAgo/v4xz26yEsXk/s400/68boorev_602219t.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5633482576936133874" /></a>In addition, <span style="font-style:italic;">Before I Go to Sleep</span> suffers from several hard to overcome leaps of logic, as well as an overly rushed climax that leaves the reader backtracking several pages in order to fully understand where all the players fit on the game board. While Watson has produced an interesting first novel, it unfortunately fails to live up to the manufactured positive hype generated over the last several months. Unreliable in tone and depth, perhaps his next novel will reveal a consistent voice that is able to avoid the lure of easy revelations and convenient conclusions.<br /><br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/grZuwo_YlY0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Depraved Indifferencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13770858255423041643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203542572907588710.post-6912409202137445342011-01-03T21:47:00.000-08:002011-10-14T16:26:52.201-07:00Review: The Mammoth Book of Zombie Apocalypse Created by Stephen JonesReview written by Jess Peacock<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TSK1qF5uJ3I/AAAAAAAAAe0/biWZlpXyJKk/s1600/zombie%2Bapocalypse.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 210px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TSK1qF5uJ3I/AAAAAAAAAe0/biWZlpXyJKk/s320/zombie%2Bapocalypse.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558204624872023922" /></a>Over the past several years, bookshelves have buckled under the considerable weight of apocalyptic horrors focused on the walking (or running) dead. As a result, there is a growing concern that the glut of flesh eating stories will ultimately warrant a backlash that could force the sub-genre underground, or worse, into becoming a self-parody. Fortunately, in the hands of creative people like Stephen Jones, zombies can still offer new and fresh storytelling opportunities for horror bibliophiles. <br /><br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/cJRlG8OKCCE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />Jones, the winner of several Bram Stoker and World Fantasy awards, has assembled almost twenty authors to create a zombie themed novel that is less anthology and more epic tale of the possible end of humanity told through multiple mediums such as text messages, diary entries, twitter, e-mails, blogs, and medical reports. Surprisingly cohesive in its disparate structure, <span style="font-style:italic;">The Mammoth Book of Zombie Apocalypse</span> recounts the yearlong zombie crisis as it explodes outward from a historic church in London, soon engulfing the rest of the world.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TSK16pGD2FI/AAAAAAAAAfE/MyuGaITluPA/s1600/portrait-2003-500.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 262px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TSK16pGD2FI/AAAAAAAAAfE/MyuGaITluPA/s320/portrait-2003-500.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558204909196925010" /></a>The opening of the book sets a surprising humanist tone for the rest of the novel with a man’s heartfelt letter of farewell to his mother before joining his wife in death. From there, everything from a blogger sharing his own personal film festival as the world goes to hell (<span style="font-style:italic;">Braindead, Bio-Zombie</span>), to the journal of a biological researcher racing against time to find a cure to the pandemic, to the chilling transcript of the last broadcast of a Mexico City radio show, all lead to a surprising and rather unique twist that, upon reflection, reshapes many of the entries.<br /><br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PGLp7rA0njU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />Not a perfect work by any measure, the 500+ pages, while indeed mammoth, often produces slow and somewhat uneven moments that would have benefited from some tighter editing. That said, <span style="font-style:italic;">The Mammoth Book of Zombie Apocalypse</span> succeeds at creating an immersive experience that feels genuine in all of the various mediums it reflects. <br /><br />Clever and smart, Stephen Jones has managed to add an original and fun take on the zombie sub-genre, with plenty of carnage, popular culture touchstones, and political subtext to appeal to a wide reading audience.<br /><br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tR3YdEEDOn0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Depraved Indifferencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13770858255423041643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203542572907588710.post-65323061039549199522010-11-11T20:13:00.000-08:002011-10-14T16:37:49.126-07:00Review: Horror Movie Freak by Don SumnerReview written by Jess Peacock<br />(Note: Reprinted from <a href="http://www.rue-morgue.com/">Rue Morgue Magazine</a>)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TNzBhz2ohxI/AAAAAAAAAec/0p5VEJL8UEU/s1600/horror-movie-freak.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TNzBhz2ohxI/AAAAAAAAAec/0p5VEJL8UEU/s200/horror-movie-freak.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5538514428358067986" /></a>After reading <span style="font-style:italic;"><a href="http://www.horrormoviefreak.com/">Horror Movie Freak</a></span>, one cannot help but wonder whether author Don Sumner is aiming at creating a primer for budding scary movie newbies, or making a definitive statement on essential horror viewing for those who consider themselves aficionados of the genre. Formulated as a pseudo-reference text, <span style="font-style:italic;">Horror Movie Freak</span> categorizes movies into various broad sub-categories such as <span style="font-style:italic;">Classics, Evil From Hell, Supernatural Thrillers</span>, and <span style="font-style:italic;">Aberrations of Nature</span>, the last of which loses some credibility at the inclusion of the blatant <span style="font-style:italic;">Jaws</span> rip-off <span style="font-style:italic;">Grizzly</span>.<br /><br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/L5wdw7wfkcE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TNzBru_QS6I/AAAAAAAAAek/_cffcVzzUCQ/s1600/Fog_The_Silva_FILMCD_342.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 199px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TNzBru_QS6I/AAAAAAAAAek/_cffcVzzUCQ/s200/Fog_The_Silva_FILMCD_342.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5538514598850743202" /></a>After an elementary introductory essay entitled Why <span style="font-style:italic;">We Love Horror Movies</span>, which cribs the rules of surviving a fright flick straight from Wes Craven’s <span style="font-style:italic;">Scream</span>, Sumner writes, “<span style="font-style:italic;">Horror Movie Freak</span> is not a listing of ‘best’ horror movies, but rather a collection of ones that fall into a variety of horror subgenres with the simple inclusion criteria that they don’t suck.” Unfortunately, what sucks and what excels can be a tricky road to travel, subject to the tastes and predilections of the viewer. Does James Wan’s mediocre <span style="font-style:italic;">Dead Silence</span> or 2003’s clichéd <span style="font-style:italic;">Darkness Falls</span> really rate above the criminally omitted Guillermo del Toro ghost story <span style="font-style:italic;">The Devil’s Backbone</span> or John Carpenter’s classic <span style="font-style:italic;">The Fog</span> (the remake, by the way, gets a nod in the book)?<br /><br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/BHm_Me0CDC0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />Toward the end of <span style="font-style:italic;">Horror Movie Freak</span>, Sumner shakes things up a little by looking at the trend of remakes (featuring <span style="font-style:italic;">The Omen, Thirteen Ghosts</span>, and <span style="font-style:italic;">Pulse</span>), pays tribute to the genre’s Scream Queens, and creates a list of ten movies one should watch before October 31st, of which inexplicably includes Bob Clark’s yuletide themed <span style="font-style:italic;">Black Christmas</span>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TNzA74O5MlI/AAAAAAAAAeU/zTZ-j-PuTnE/s1600/Black%2BChristmas.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 225px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TNzA74O5MlI/AAAAAAAAAeU/zTZ-j-PuTnE/s320/Black%2BChristmas.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5538513776698536530" /></a>Ultimately, <span style="font-style:italic;">Horror Movie Freak</span> fails to satisfyingly flesh out any of the films it highlights with interesting facts, anecdotes, or trivia, which will undoubtedly leave the majority of advanced terror fans wanting. However, with its easily digestible plot synopsis of each featured movie, as well as an abundance of stills, quotes, and marketing materials littering the two-hundred and fifty plus pages, <span style="font-style:italic;">Horror Movie Freak</span> could easily succeed as that <span style="font-style:italic;">Intro to Horror</span> class you’ve always been hoping to enroll your significant other in.Depraved Indifferencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13770858255423041643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203542572907588710.post-28738033265680445272010-10-26T14:57:00.000-07:002011-08-08T20:46:00.753-07:00Review: Grim Reaper: End of Days by Steve AltenReview written by Jess Peacock
<br />(Note: Reprinted from <a href="http://fangoria.com/">Fangoria Magazine</a>)
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TMdQ9W8HsJI/AAAAAAAAAdk/d1T8ubKvt30/s1600/grim-reaper.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TMdQ9W8HsJI/AAAAAAAAAdk/d1T8ubKvt30/s320/grim-reaper.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5532479682307928210" /></a><span style="font-style:italic;">Grim Reaper: End of Days</span>, the latest novel from Steve Alten, aspires to work on a number of levels. Primarily, it attempts to re-imagine Dante’s <span style="font-style:italic;">Inferno</span> as a post-modern apocalyptic thriller while also functioning as a scathing commentary on the perceived moral breakdown within the United States, using the recent financial crisis and the Iraq War as a double fisted soapbox with which to proselytize from.
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<br />Unfortunately, <span style="font-style:italic;">End of Days</span> reads as an incomprehensible amalgam of literary and cinematic end-of-the-world stereotypes swirling amidst a heavy dose of pseudo-spiritual babble more fit for Christian retailers than proper horror fiction.
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<br />Predominantly taking place in and around Manhattan after a psychotic chemical weapons researcher unleashes the Scythe virus (a form of the Black Plague), the novel follows Iraq War veteran Patrick Shepherd as he battles his way through disease, mayhem, and the United States military to locate his estranged family.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TMdRLeTmuGI/AAAAAAAAAds/3frRA-H7Cvo/s1600/dantes-inferno-2.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 163px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TMdRLeTmuGI/AAAAAAAAAds/3frRA-H7Cvo/s200/dantes-inferno-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5532479924803647586" /></a>As Shepherd, accompanied by psychologist Virgil (subtle), dodges bullets, crashes helicopters, and, inexplicably, duels with Death himself, the side-effects of the virus and its antidote enable him to see behind the veil of the physical world and into the spiritual nine circles of Hell first illustrated by Dante Alighieri’s epic poem <span style="font-style:italic;">Divine Comedy</span>.
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<br />Uncomfortably paranoid in its endless ranting on the evils of society, Alten pulls out every conceivable modern day conspiracy theory as fodder for his opus, including the Bush Administration’s alleged complicity in the attacks of 9/11 and the 2001 Amerithrax incidents.
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<br />Aside from the ridiculously convoluted story within <span style="font-style:italic;">Grim Reaper: End of Days</span>, Alten fills his 500-plus pages with paper-thin characters who speak in a wooden, overly expository manner that often comes across more as a textbook on Gnostic mysticism and less a fictional form of entertainment. To make matters worse, the author displays an embarrassingly poor grasp of basic writing technique when he regularly switches from present tense to past tense, often within the same paragraph.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TMdRufQ9guI/AAAAAAAAAd8/CmMgpmYxenw/s1600/glenn_beck-e1264610824708.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 183px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TMdRufQ9guI/AAAAAAAAAd8/CmMgpmYxenw/s200/glenn_beck-e1264610824708.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5532480526356415202" /></a>While Alten has found a moderate amount of success with his prehistoric shark series <span style="font-style:italic;">MEG</span>, his latest effort falls flat in every respect, more akin tonally to Glenn Beck’s abysmal <span style="font-style:italic;">Overton Window</span> than an apocalyptic classic such as Stephen King’s <span style="font-style:italic;">The Stand</span>. Fans of the horrific would be well advised to avoid this unfortunate new release.Depraved Indifferencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13770858255423041643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203542572907588710.post-96740051885912902010-10-12T20:16:00.000-07:002010-10-12T20:26:54.718-07:00Review: The Fall by Guillermo del Toro & Chuck HoganReview written by Jess Peacock<br />(Note: Reprinted from <a href="http://www.rue-morgue.com/">Rue Morgue Magazine</a>)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TLUl24RozaI/AAAAAAAAAbw/YI7h7uU4xmk/s1600/TheFall.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 211px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TLUl24RozaI/AAAAAAAAAbw/YI7h7uU4xmk/s320/TheFall.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527365742416678306" /></a>The Fall, Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan’s follow-up to The Strain, not only changes everything we’ve come to know in this stellar vampire series, it dazzles the reader with a kinetic narrative that sacrifices none of the vivid character development that was established in the first book.<br /><br />The new novel picks up immediately following the events of The Strain as a geometric vampiric wave spreads outward from New York City, with only a small resistance movement, led by CDC scientist Eph Goodweather and Holocaust survivor Abraham Setrakian, that knows the truth. Making matters worse from the newly ordained vampire hunters is the inexplicable complicity of key officials in the upper tiers of power, never mind that Eph’s ex-wife Kelly is turned and stalking their son, and a war is unfolding between Old and New World vampires for control of humanity. Fortunately, Hogan and del Toro have successfully avoided the pitfalls traditionally associated with the dreaded middle act, retaining the same epic scope of the original novel, while focusing even more on the evolution of their protagonists.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TLUmLjpxGPI/AAAAAAAAAb4/QD2DpTwa7JA/s1600/guillermo_del_toro.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TLUmLjpxGPI/AAAAAAAAAb4/QD2DpTwa7JA/s320/guillermo_del_toro.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527366097657993458" /></a>In addition, Sardu, the ageless vampire progenitor of the Apocalypse, is everything a Big Bad should be. His plan for world enslavement is focused and overwhelming, as he expertly moves his various pawns toward the unthinkable checkmate that concludes The Fall.<br /><br />While one assumes that veteran author Hogan pulled most of the weight writing the book, it is undoubtedly del Toro’s imagination smeared over every page. The vampires here are not sexy or in any way romantic. In fact, they are more akin to the Reapers from del Toro’s Blade II. They are monsters, with just enough of their former existence rooted in their rapidly evaporating humanity to covet the lives of their Dear Ones when they set out into the night.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TLUm6zxln0I/AAAAAAAAAcQ/TupySbNuzhE/s1600/chuck-hogan.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TLUm6zxln0I/AAAAAAAAAcQ/TupySbNuzhE/s200/chuck-hogan.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527366909439614786" /></a>The Fall succeeds in not only continuing to effectively re-imagine the modern vampire mythos, but also in bringing some genuine horror to the bestseller lists. If Hogan and del Toro laid the groundwork for the seminal vampire series of the new decade with The Strain, they only build upon that rock-solid foundation with The Fall, delivering a psychologically devastating marathon of suspense, heartache and terror.Depraved Indifferencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13770858255423041643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203542572907588710.post-22983964046690896132010-08-23T20:42:00.000-07:002011-07-25T19:51:01.926-07:00Review: Overwinter by David WellingtonReview written by Jess Peacock<br />(Note: Reposted from <a href="http://www.famousmonstersoffilmland.com/fm-book-review-overwinter/">Famous Monsters of Filmland</a>)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/THNBij-ddhI/AAAAAAAAAas/peGpPGsuOZg/s1600/overwinter.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 128px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/THNBij-ddhI/AAAAAAAAAas/peGpPGsuOZg/s200/overwinter.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5508818831232824850" /></a>With his latest novel Overwinter, David Wellington has continued to solidify his status as one of the most talented (and underrated) writers working within the horror genre today. With an oeuvre that spans the sodden trail of zombies, vampires, and werewolves, Wellington has consistently put an original spin on these classic monstrous icons, while creating vividly imagined worlds filled with rich characters that consistently live on long after the final page is dispatched.<br /><br />The sequel to the stellar werewolf tale Frostbite (see review <a href="http://thecrawlspaceonline.blogspot.com/2010/07/review-frostbite-by-david-wellington.html">here</a>), Overwinter continues the journey of newly turned lycanthrope Chey Clark as she struggles with not only her developing pedigree as a supernatural beast of legend, but also her increasingly complex attraction and dependence on Powell, the werewolf who killed her father and ultimately turned her.<br /> <br />Complicating matters is the appearance of Lucie, the twisted sociopath who sired Powell, as well as the brilliant hunter Varkanin who is seeking revenge against the werewolves. In addition to these substantial new wrinkles, Chey must contend with the horrible realization that with every metamorphosis, she surrenders more and more of her humanity to the beast within threatening to break free of her psyche once and for all.<br /><br />While performing at less of a breakneck pace than its predecessor, Overwinter expands the origin of the Werewolf mythos, making excellent use of Inuit animism legends originally hinted at with the mysterious Dzo in Frostbite. In doing so, Wellington grounds the story firmly in the midst of the origin of mankind, giving the ensuing events an epic scope and resonance.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/THNCC61iDbI/AAAAAAAAAa8/QULZckSx_eQ/s1600/wellington.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/THNCC61iDbI/AAAAAAAAAa8/QULZckSx_eQ/s400/wellington.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5508819387125206450" /></a>Prolific by any standard, Wellington’s novels (Overwinter being no exception) consistently succeed at avoiding the rushed and anemic narratives that many modern horror authors and publishers seem to be falling victim to. These are not stories written simply for leisure, immediately forgotten and discarded into the stacks. This is an author who writes stories of depth, emotion, and passion, ratcheting up the tension and horror by connecting with the reader on a visceral, deeply human level.<br /><br />Lean, exciting, and filled with enough carnage to satisfy hardcore genre fans, Overwinter continues the author’s creative dominance (whether recognized or not) of the horror lists. If you’re not reading David Wellington, you are simply missing out on a writer at the top of his artistic game.Depraved Indifferencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13770858255423041643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203542572907588710.post-80333944228412656252010-08-17T09:04:00.000-07:002011-07-25T19:51:50.629-07:00Review: The Loving Dead by Amelia BeamerReview written by Jess Peacock<br />(Note: Reposted from <a href="http://thenovelblog.com/">The Novel Blog</a>)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TGrU85MQKnI/AAAAAAAAAak/IoXzwz7bRcM/s1600/thelovingdead+amelia+beamer.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 207px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TGrU85MQKnI/AAAAAAAAAak/IoXzwz7bRcM/s320/thelovingdead+amelia+beamer.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506447637023304306" /></a>The entertainment industry has been overrun with zombies, a veritable undead tidal wave flooding everything from movies, to television, to video games, and, yes, literature. Particularly literature. Bookshelves are buckling under the weight of apocalyptic horrors focused on the walking dead, the running dead, or just really angry people who want us dead.<br /><br />This is not a complaint, necessarily. I love the zombie sub-genre, however I nurse a growing concern that the glut of flesh eating stories will ultimately warrant a backlash that could force the sub-genre underground, or worse, into becoming a self-parody. And let’s be honest with ourselves, there is a lot of garbage out there produced by people who simply view zombies as an opportunity to cash in on the craze. <br /><br />I hate to say this, but I think I just need a vacation from the whole zombie <span style="font-style:italic;">thing</span>. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TGq2a7tmz1I/AAAAAAAAAaE/Z6Sa38V-KYc/s1600/beamer+pic.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TGq2a7tmz1I/AAAAAAAAAaE/Z6Sa38V-KYc/s320/beamer+pic.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506414068235685714" /></a>Because of this, I initially balked at reading Amelia Beamer’s surprisingly fun debut novel The Loving Dead. To my discredit, the book sat face down on my desk for at least a month, Beamer’s spectacled eyes framed in golden dreadlocks on the back cover, willing me to partake of its bloodied contents. I finally relented, based solely on the notion that an author with such a kick ass hairstyle wouldn’t dare steer me wrong.<br /> <br />“People like to predict the death of genres or sub-genres, but I like to see it from the other end,” Beamer explains of her initial foray into the scene while addressing fears about the state of the subject matter. “Zombies are everywhere: that means that everyone is familiar with them. What matters are the stories we can tell using this tool. Since everyone knows what zombies are, we can really play with the material.”<br /><br />The Loving Dead may be the world’s first hipster zombie tale with its cast of young, ironic, culturally savvy characters (“I'd like to think that my friends would get along with them”) who probably spend a considerable amount of time reading cooler-than-thou websites like Pitchfork.com. The story follows Kate and Michael, two friends struggling not only to come to terms with who they are, but what they mean to each other as a slow-burn zombie apocalypse descends upon San Francisco. “My characters work at Trader Joe's; they have real people problems and joys,” she says. “All of my characters come out of me and the people I've met.”<br /><br />Beamer, whose day job involves editing the science fiction magazine Locus (“It's a great job for a writer”), effectively transcends the typical survivalist end of days tropes of zombie fiction by focusing on the relationships and interactions of the characters. “I spent the few years before I wrote The Loving Dead mostly working on literary fiction, the kind where two people meet and discuss their failed relationship,” she explains. “Nothing happens in them! And the trick is to make somebody feel something, but there isn't a massive readership for this kind of fiction outside of The New Yorker. So I figured, throw some zombies in, and bam, we'll have a plot! Readers like plot.”<br /><br />“Ultimately, plot and character are the same thing,” Beamer continues. “Plot is what happens to characters, and characters exist only in relation to what's happening to them. If I'd forgotten to put in the zombies, my characters would still have problems figuring out whether they're dating the right person: the zombies just make survival a big concern, too.”<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TGq3QU5uuBI/AAAAAAAAAac/TCoKYeA0Nd4/s1600/shaun-dead_1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TGq3QU5uuBI/AAAAAAAAAac/TCoKYeA0Nd4/s200/shaun-dead_1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506414985530488850" /></a>More akin to Shaun of the Dead than the grim nihilism of most zombie fare, The Loving Dead is often genuinely funny amidst the horrific violence and destruction that surrounds the protagonists. “Humor and horror are very closely related,” the author points out. “Horror, as a genre, is when we see a tragedy unfolding and we identify enough with the people involved that we don't laugh at them. And at the same time, people make terribly dark jokes about the things that scare us. We have to in order to stay sane.”<br /><br />Stylish and clever, although slightly uneven at times, The Loving Dead provides an original take on the zombie sub-genre (infection as STD), with enough requisite carnage and relational missteps to appeal to a wider reading audience. Beamer has succeeded in adding a fresh voice to undead fiction, and will be returning in September with her contribution to The Living Dead 2 anthology entitled Pirates vs. Zombies.<br /><br />Thanks to Beamer, I’ll be rethinking that vacation.Depraved Indifferencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13770858255423041643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203542572907588710.post-2414046806483013262010-08-09T16:42:00.000-07:002010-08-09T17:02:00.246-07:00A Dark Place: Wednesday 13 and the Rebirth of the Murderdolls<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TGCWkdLoswI/AAAAAAAAAYU/4LdT7KkoPuk/s1600/womenchildrenlast.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TGCWkdLoswI/AAAAAAAAAYU/4LdT7KkoPuk/s200/womenchildrenlast.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503564297699635970" /></a>Written by Jess Peacock<br />(Note: While I am not a music reviewer, I had the opportunity to interview Wednesday 13 about the reformation of Murderdolls and their new album out on August 31st. I wasn't about to pass it up. Enjoy!)<br /><br />The chronicles of the Murderdolls are, for the lack of a better expression, complex. Founded in 2002 as a side project for Slipknot’s drummer Joey Jordison, the band emerged as a musical chimera of sorts, eventually forming from the discarded pieces of several other rock projects. Most prominent of these disparate elements was Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13, Wednesday 13’s horror punk outfit, the gory fingerprints of which are smeared all over 2002’s Beyond the Valley of the Murderdolls.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TGCU5EJ2hHI/AAAAAAAAAXk/87O-raScDrg/s1600/beyond+the+valley.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TGCU5EJ2hHI/AAAAAAAAAXk/87O-raScDrg/s200/beyond+the+valley.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503562452735263858" /></a>After several years of extensive touring in support of their only full-length release, Murderdolls vanished from the music scene. “We’ve always kept the conversation going about the Murderdolls,” explains lead singer Wednesday 13. “But we both had so many other things going on. Joey did two Slipknot albums and the world tours associated with that and I put out three solo albums and two country albums. That consumes a lot of time.”<br /><br />On August 31st, however, after an eight-year “absence” from the industry, Murderdolls return with a new full-length album entitled Women and Children Last. “We honestly didn’t think it would happen,” Wednesday says. “About a year ago we spoke, and Joey was really into doing it again, so we hit the studio and knocked the album out in thirty days.”<br /><br />“Working again with Joey was easier than remembering how to ride a bike,” he continues. “Doing my solo stuff for the last five years, I missed having that partner, a collaborator. Joey and I feed off of each other and how we work together is insane. I’ve never had that with anyone else before.”<br /><br />If the blistering onslaught of the recently released single, My Dark Place Alone, and the seizure inducing supporting <a href="http://www.murderdollsband.com/board_posts/my-dark-place-alone-4">video</a> are any indicator, then the regenerated Murderdolls have not missed a step during the prolonged hiatus. In addition to their signature punk/hard rock barrage of sound, there also seems to be a slightly more mature, even relaxed, element to the music. “We want to keep people guessing,” Wednesday reveals. “So we tried being a little different. We didn’t want to be painted into a corner, so we really mixed it up on the album.”<br /><br />“The album is a fun, violent rollercoaster ride,” he adds with a smile on his face and a distinct sparkle in his eye. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TGCW5Zv1_1I/AAAAAAAAAYk/MQv_wDuuV3U/s1600/weds+and+joey2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 132px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TGCW5Zv1_1I/AAAAAAAAAYk/MQv_wDuuV3U/s200/weds+and+joey2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503564657555013458" /></a>In addition to the growth and maturation the duo experienced after eight years apart, another change for the 2010 Murderdolls, albeit slight, is a reigning in of the horror tropes that have dominated Jordison and Wednesday 13’s collaborative projects. “The first album had a lot of horror imagery,” Wednesday points out. “For this record, we still have the horror imagery, but this time I wrote stories as opposed to horror themes.”<br /><br />Whether singing about overt horror staples (Dawn of the Dead) or the more internal terrors of a mental breakdown (My Dark Place Alone), Wednesday 13 is quick to assure everyone that Murderdolls is as ghastly as ever. “They’re my own stories this time, but the imagery is still going to be there. We’re not trying to be a horror band; it just seems to come naturally. I went way beyond my means on this record and stepped out of the box I had put myself in. I had more tricks up my sleeve than people realized, and this record is filled with them.”<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TGCVZmvZmZI/AAAAAAAAAX0/nxqZyq-tQ3g/s1600/weds+and+joey.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 264px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TGCVZmvZmZI/AAAAAAAAAX0/nxqZyq-tQ3g/s400/weds+and+joey.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503563011775371666" /></a>Concerning the future of Murderdolls, and the apprehension of some fans wary of a musical cash grab, Wednesday is anything but vague. “This isn’t what you’d call a side project,” the singer-songwriter clarifies. “We’re set to tour for a good two years as the Murderdolls, so we’re not taking an eight year break,” This statement would seem to be backed up by the recent announcement that Murderdolls will join the Halloween Hootenanny tour, headlined by Alice Cooper and Rob Zombie. “We’re going to show people this time what we meant to show them last time.”<br /><br />“This is my baby,” Wednesday 13 admits. “My favorite thing I’ve ever done. I don’t want to be cliché and say that this album is the best work I’ve ever done. But what I left behind and what I personally put into this album, it is the biggest record of my life.”Depraved Indifferencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13770858255423041643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203542572907588710.post-65538689089382885032010-07-27T12:33:00.000-07:002010-08-06T06:35:51.131-07:00Review: A Gathering of Crows by Brian Keene<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFwLX9D4AuI/AAAAAAAAAPs/Z90lZqVdkxU/s1600/crows.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 124px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFwLX9D4AuI/AAAAAAAAAPs/Z90lZqVdkxU/s200/crows.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502285350895616738" /></a>Review written by Jess Peacock<br /><br />Say what you will about Brian Keene, but the man has made an impact in horror fiction. Since his Bram Stoker award winning debut novel The Rising landed on bookshelves in 2004 (credited by no less than the New York times as instrumental in kicking off the zombie craze), Keene has attained a dark prose Grand Poobah status in the eyes of genre fans around the globe. With no less than eleven novels since The Rising, assorted short stories, comic book gigs, and a free ongoing serial published through his website, Keene is practically a one-man publishing industry.<br /><br />Unfortunately for Keene’s latest, A Gathering of Crows has proven to be sparse and unimaginative, devoid of any tangible characterization or depth. And while layered nuance may not be what horror fans want out of the author, I can’t imagine that a bland narrative overrun with wooden dialogue is high on the list either.<br /><br />Set in a small town in West Virginia, A Gathering of Crows brings back Levi Stozfus, an ex-Amish Hebraic witch featured in Keene’s book Ghost Walk. On his way to Virginia and stopping only for the night in Brinkley Springs, Levi inconveniently finds himself trapped within the borders of the forgettable hamlet as five demonic entities lay siege to the citizenry, ripping apart anyone and everyone they find.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFsgnJ_2NgI/AAAAAAAAAMU/lVjANuWU_VY/s1600/Brian-Keene1.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 170px; height: 226px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFsgnJ_2NgI/AAAAAAAAAMU/lVjANuWU_VY/s400/Brian-Keene1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502027226833892866" /></a>A Gathering of Crows’ whisper thin plot seems more like an appendix for Keene’s burgeoning Labyrinth universe than a stand-alone novel. Filled with alternate earth timelines under attack by The Thirteen (evil forces sworn to destroy God’s creation), the Labyrinth is the Lovecraftian mythos Keene has constructed connecting his various books and the assorted cosmic horrors within. The inter-dimensional conflicts continually spill over into physical reality, unleashing zombies, giant worms, ghouls, and now soul-consuming revenants manifested in a murder of crows.<br /><br />While I am not one to necessarily share advice with bestselling authors (and let’s face it, a book like A Gathering of Crows is red meat to his ravenous readers), Keene could potentially profit more from abbreviating his enormous literary output and focusing on developing stories that operate on more than the primal nihilistic levels that he has explored ad infinitum. The notion that these cataclysmic events are happening simply due to vengeful antics of The Thirteen creates a redundancy of back-story that grows tiresome novel after novel. While Lovecraft was able to loosely connect his pantheon of dark tales with the backbone of the celebrated Cthulhu Mythos, it must be noted that the legendary writer’s body of work manifested primarily in the short form and, in all honesty, should not credibly be compared with Keene’s (even though I just did). <br /><br />With regard to A Gathering of Crows, those who like this sort of thing will find this to be the sort of thing they like. Keene is somewhat of a name brand in the horror market, making him to some extent review proof. Ultimately, his fans will read him no matter what, and Leisure Fiction will continue to pump out his material. His next book, Entombed, already scheduled to drop in February, is a return to Keene’s zombie wheelhouse, and hopefully a homecoming for the sheer narrative velocity and character development of The Rising.Depraved Indifferencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13770858255423041643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203542572907588710.post-75731530605156376892010-07-20T21:58:00.000-07:002010-09-03T09:26:23.811-07:00Siren Song: A Profile of John Everson<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFslN5NT-2I/AAAAAAAAANc/GdEsScxxs8w/s1600/john+profile.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 153px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFslN5NT-2I/AAAAAAAAANc/GdEsScxxs8w/s200/john+profile.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502032290388376418" /></a>Written by Jess Peacock<br />(Note: Reposted from <a href="http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/21547">Bloody-Disgusting.com</a>)<br /><br />“Siren was a little different for me,” confides John Everson regarding his most recent novel. “I didn’t want to do vampires. I didn’t want to do zombies.” A cursory glance at retail bookshelves over the past several years does indeed bear the burden of tiresome and predictable subject matter. Without the endless variations on undead adventures and flesh eating apocalypse epics, genre choices have proven somewhat anemic.<br /><br />“I started thinking about what hadn’t already been done a million times before,” Everson continues. “And then I thought of the siren, which has a solid mythological base, and has never really been the subject of a horror novel as a lead character.” <br /><br />The siren, originating in Greek mythology and popularized in Homer’s Odyssey, were alluring supernatural creatures who led sailors to their death with their seductive and irresistible music. “During my research, I came across an old painting of the sirens laying nude on a pile of human carcasses. I thought that this was a really good basis for a horror novel.”<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFwxOCxiiPI/AAAAAAAAAWk/7iefZ_MZ6ec/s1600/covenant.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 124px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFwxOCxiiPI/AAAAAAAAAWk/7iefZ_MZ6ec/s200/covenant.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502326962072488178" /></a>Everson, who won the Bram Stoker Award for his debut novel Covenant, has always had an attraction to the darker side of the universe. “I was a sci-fi kid, so I watched a lot of Outer Limits and the Twilight Zone. When I started writing, everything I did ended up being short stories with a nasty twist at the end. So I started focusing more and more on horror.”<br /><br />“Throughout the nineties I published short fiction in all sorts of magazines,” Everson continues. “I love the short form. You can do one in the afternoon and feel a great sense of accomplishment. There’s closure, it’s done, and then I can go watch a movie.” Despite fifteen years of working primarily in short stories, however, Everson made a splash in the publishing world with the previous mentioned Covenant, its sequel Sacrifice, the Argento influenced The 13th (“A result of sitting on my ass and watching Italian horror movies for six months”), and now Siren.<br /><br />“I think I’m becoming more of a novelist now,” he asserts. “When you’re working on a novel, it’s six months of slogging through. Of course, at the end, you’ve got a novel that could be on shelves for years. I’d have to really work to do a 2,000 word story again.”<br /><br />Unfortunately, while it benefits from a premise ripe with potential, Everson’s latest work reads like one of his short stories uncomfortably stretched to a 300-page novel. The tale finds itself trapped in a repetitive loop of a man’s erotic midnight encounters on the beach with the Siren, peppered with the standard gory deaths of random, underdeveloped supporting players (both modern and historic).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFskaL85oKI/AAAAAAAAANE/GyanfVhYXGA/s1600/John-Everson-Siren-490x790.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 198px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFskaL85oKI/AAAAAAAAANE/GyanfVhYXGA/s320/John-Everson-Siren-490x790.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502031402066616482" /></a>“Siren also centers on dealing with the loss of a child,” Everson reveals. “This subplot definitely came from being a new father, which makes this book very important to me.” It is through this secondary narrative involving the drowning death of the protagonist’s teenage son where the novel actually shines. The palpable sorrow and guilt from his loss inexorably drags hero Evan into the blackest depths as surely as any wanton Siren. The author’s rendering of a father lost in his pain is brilliant in its emotional agony, a poignant through line that is unfortunately dampened by the ultimate revelation of the truth behind his son’s death. <br /><br />Despite any weaknesses affiliated with Siren, Everson’s immediate writing future promises to be productive with the March release of his fifth novel, The Pumpkin Man (“The jumping off point for the book is a short story I published in Doorways Magazine several years ago”), as well as continued publishing efforts with his own label, Dark Arts Books. “We’re now on our sixth title,” he shares. “Our whole modus operandi is to put together collections of four authors, usually an established author, a couple of cult status writers, and a newbie. We want to introduce people to other authors.”<br /><br />“The market for small press stinks,” Everson discloses. “But we’re still breaking even on every title, making people a little bit of money.”<br /><br />No matter the literary pursuit, Everson plans on remaining firmly within the boundaries of horror. “Horror gets to the root of what it is to be human,” he explains. “We are all driven in a large part by our fears and obsessions. We’ll always have horror stories, we’ll always be wondering if there’s something beyond…unseen. And that’s what the horror genre is all about.”Depraved Indifferencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13770858255423041643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203542572907588710.post-78530823763703906102010-07-14T13:04:00.000-07:002010-08-06T09:01:38.811-07:00Review: Frostbite by David Wellington<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFwLj9VtveI/AAAAAAAAAP0/I1t1Mnqtjsc/s1600/WellingtonFrostbite.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 128px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFwLj9VtveI/AAAAAAAAAP0/I1t1Mnqtjsc/s200/WellingtonFrostbite.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502285557128871394" /></a>Review written by Jess Peacock<br /><br />What is it about werewolves? In the early-80’s, some of the first cinematic horrors I was exposed to was An American Werewolf in London and The Howling. We could spend hours debating which was the better film (<span style="font-style:italic;">coughthehowlingcough</span>), but this is a lit review, not a fanboy forum on Aint It Cool News. I simply draw attention to these movies in order to illustrate how lycanthropes have never quite grabbed the pop culture imagination since John Landis and Joe Dante’s cinematic one-two punch of 1981. Yes, books have been written, and yes, there have been other movies produced, however the werewolf often stands envious of the attention granted to its genre cousins the vampire and zombie.<br /><br />This lack of adequate consideration for the werewolf mythos is unfortunate, if only due to the fact that David Wellington’s stellar novel Frostbite probably won’t receive the proper diligence it deserves. After redefining both the walking dead and the undead with Monster Island and 13 Bullets respectively (in addition to their sequels), the author has turned his razor sharp prose to the criminally underrepresented lupines.<br /><br />Set in the vast Northwest Territories of Canada, Frostbite wastes little time as it plummets into a world of survival, redemption, and forgiveness. Chey, the protagonist, is resolute in her determination to track down the man/wolf who violently ripped her father to pieces before her adolescent eyes, setting the young heroine on an emotionally aimless course through life. That is until she is offered an opportunity for revenge.<br /><br />As is often the case with Wellington’s stories, the plot of Frostbite, while superbly effective, is incidental next to the intense characterization of not only Chey, but also Powell, the alpha wolf who has spent more than a lifetime searching for a sufficiently isolated home to veil himself from civilization. It is through their stories that the author deconstructs the typical Manichean good versus evil dynamic of the werewolf, and reveals the devastating toll that the curse takes on its victims.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFwx0hboY2I/AAAAAAAAAW0/khatjUrmwF0/s1600/david-wellington.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFwx0hboY2I/AAAAAAAAAW0/khatjUrmwF0/s200/david-wellington.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502327623137125218" /></a>As for the rendering of the actual werewolves, they are a uniquely supernatural creature manifesting in a type of spiritual transformation, emerging as a separate conscious being with all the fury and power of nature’s wrath thrown in for good measure. Rather than the oft utilized trope of the werewolf representing the primal state of man, these wolves simply stand alone, with a remorseless desire to be free, to be forever wolf. More akin to the prehistoric dire wolf, Wellington imbues his creations with an intelligence and ferocity that overwhelms the humanity of the cursed whenever the moon rises. <br /><br />Frostbite is breakneck in its pace, frenetic even in its more casual moments with the ever present underlying ticking clock of nightfall. Furthermore, the narrative perspective of the fully transformed wolf is breathtaking in its descriptive palate, cognizant, yet predatory and instinctual in its fragmented style.<br /><br />The first in a series (Overwinter premiers in September), Wellington has successfully laid the groundwork for an epic werewolf legend. Mythological in its scope while grounded in an organic reality that provides depth and weight to the proceedings, Frostbite is an exhilarating, gruesome, and enthralling literary creature feature for modern horror fans.Depraved Indifferencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13770858255423041643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203542572907588710.post-22174834677171405622010-07-11T21:25:00.000-07:002018-02-03T10:11:23.406-08:00More Than One Life to Live: A Profile of Alexandra Sokoloff<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFsmubybYpI/AAAAAAAAAN8/ED9LGTw3oGg/s1600/sokoloff.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502033948938298002" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFsmubybYpI/AAAAAAAAAN8/ED9LGTw3oGg/s320/sokoloff.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 265px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 180px;" /></a>Written by Jess Peacock<br /><br />(This is the second time The Crawlspace has had the fortune of featuring Alexandra Sokoloff. Click <a href="http://thecrawlspaceonline.blogspot.com/2009/03/haunting-of-alexandra-sokoloff-profile.html">here</a> for the previous article.)<br /><br />“I am staggered at how lucky I am,” exclaims Alexandra Sokoloff, author of the newly released novel Book of Shadows. “I’m making a living writing exactly what I want to write, and getting everything I write published. That’s a delirious kind of success!” Where she sees luck, however, others might see a boundlessly creative and deserving writer dedicated to her craft. <br /><br />No longer a fresh face to the scene, Sokoloff has happily transitioned from her role as frustrated screenwriter to bestselling author, producing four well-received works of fiction since 2006. “Writing novels is a slower, deeper rhythm, and I love that. Publishing is worlds different from Hollywood. You get to complete every project you start, which is so incredibly satisfying. It’s fantastic!” In addition to her novels, Sokoloff is involved in several side projects, such as her non-fiction workbook Screenwriting Tricks For Authors (and Screenwriters!), as well as numerous other upcoming ventures. “I am extremely excited about a novel I have just finished with Sarah Langan, Sarah Pinborough, and Rhodi Hawk, [entitled] Apocalypse. It’s actually four novellas that are intricately interwoven into a single book. [And] I’ve written a paranormal for Harlequin… called The Shifters. Not quite as scary as my others, but lots of sex to make up for it.”<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFwyEEnLBjI/AAAAAAAAAW8/fhfnlDGU0uI/s1600/Price-1.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502327890278811186" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFwyEEnLBjI/AAAAAAAAAW8/fhfnlDGU0uI/s200/Price-1.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 200px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 132px;" /></a>Since leaving Hollywood to focus on her Bram Stoker award winning debut novel The Harrowing, Sokoloff has found that her particular blend of eroticism, horror, spiritualism and mystery has conjured a devoted audience. “I am very aware of my mandate to scare people,” she explains. “But it’s a nail-biting, hair-raising, psychological kind of chill that I’m going for. I think The Price is my only true horror novel, but it’s so psychological that the horror creeps up on you.”<br /><br />“I’m proudly writing in a long Gothic horror tradition,” expounds Sokoloff. “I think what distinguishes my stories from a lot of obvious horror is that I always ground everything that happens in reality, which means that there could be a psychological or criminal interpretation to the supernatural occurrences that are going on.”<br /><br />This subjective approach to Sokoloff’s fiction claws its way to the forefront of her recently published novel Book of Shadows. The story unfolds initially as a James Patterson-ish police procedural, following Boston detectives investigating the violent and apparently ritualistic murder of a young college student. Not surprisingly, things run askew for the authorities when bewildering evidence and the sudden emergence of a mysterious woman threaten to rupture the unassailable case against their swiftly apprehended suspect. “It’s my most realistic book. I wanted to write a [story] that would pit a very outwardly rational, logic-driven man against a very otherworldly, psychic, subconsciously driven woman, and play with the line between what is real and what is supernatural.”<br /><br />“I thought I could create some great chemistry and distrust between the characters there,” she explains. “A paranormal noir, if you will.”<br /><br />Another reoccurring theme in Sokoloff’s work is the decidedly pronounced focus on strong, yet considerably troubled, female characters. “I write…from a specifically feminine point of view, and that’s a very conscious effort. Women know a lot about horror.” Robin from The Harrowing, Laurel from The Unseen, and now Tanith from Book of Shadows adorn Sokoloff’s hall of heroines possessing dark pasts filled with secrets, hidden agendas and raw trauma. “You don’t live in this world as a woman without becoming troubled in some way. We know what it is to be raped, battered, prostituted, enslaved, disenfranchised, underpaid, demeaned, harassed; we live horror on a much more intimate basis than most men ever do.”<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFsnG3F-wOI/AAAAAAAAAOU/LUf6MkhK92w/s1600/bookofshadows.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502034368584925410" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFsnG3F-wOI/AAAAAAAAAOU/LUf6MkhK92w/s320/bookofshadows.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 214px;" /></a>While a serviceable and solid police thriller, Book of Shadows falls well short of the standard set by Sokoloff’s superlative novel The Price. Slightly uneven in tone, her newest seems unable to decide exactly what kind of story it aspires to be. Garrett, the detective caught up in the middle of an is-it-real-or-not journey into the paranormal, seems to waver every other chapter despite mounting evidence that not only have they arrested the wrong killer, but that the source of the danger is unquestionably not of this world.<br /><br />Despite these issues, Book of Shadows moves along at an exciting clip, dragging the reader into a wholly satisfying hallucinogenic whirlwind of criminal investigations, witchcraft, and suppressed sexual desires. With her latest, Sokoloff has established herself as one of the more exhilarating writers working in the industry today, churning out dark and often erotic adventures that both stimulate and thrill.<br /><br />“I have vast distances to go on this whole journey,” the author observes. “But the way I’m writing now, I can easily write one or two books a year. That is a lot of stories to write, a lot of worlds to explore, a lot of lives to live.”Depraved Indifferencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13770858255423041643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203542572907588710.post-4119914212323552642010-07-08T08:23:00.000-07:002010-08-24T08:27:48.306-07:00Characters Welcome: A Profile of David Wellington<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFtCa7IuA4I/AAAAAAAAAPE/yeTHuLkdnS8/s1600/david-wellington.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFtCa7IuA4I/AAAAAAAAAPE/yeTHuLkdnS8/s200/david-wellington.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502064400081486722" /></a>Written by Jess Peacock<br /><br />The journey of David Wellington from aspirant published author to horror genre literary powerhouse is well documented, and the source of infinite envy for those attempting to photocopy his success. “I couldn’t get published to save my life,” Wellington explains. “A friend suggested I could put some of my work on his blog. The first day I got seventeen hits. By the time I was finishing up my first serialized novel, it was something like forty thousand hits per update. That was when the publishers came calling.”<br /><br />Since 2006, Wellington has unleashed a consistent barrage of creature features, starting with his three-book zombie epic Monster Island, Monster Nation and Monster Planet, the riveting Laura Caxton centered vampire series that spans four books (soon to be five) beginning with 13 Bullets, and most recently his spin on the werewolf mythos Frostbite, with the sequel Overwinter due out in September. “I grew up reading genre novels when I was a kid. They were meant for…fans of those genres. I was one of those fans. Still am. I love horror because I like old monster movies and all the gothic trappings.”<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFtBXyYoTeI/AAAAAAAAAOk/K-PZ24DrZ0g/s1600/13bullets.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 207px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFtBXyYoTeI/AAAAAAAAAOk/K-PZ24DrZ0g/s320/13bullets.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502063246681066978" /></a>Wellington’s greatest success thus far has undoubtedly come through the aforementioned Laura Caxton, heroine of the author’s vampire tales. Undeniably stalwart and intelligent, Caxton also bears the distinction of being one of the only lesbian leading ladies in modern horror literature. “She's based on my sister, who is in fact gay. She used to tell me these horror stories of what she went through before she came out. A lot of that went into the character.”<br /><br />Wellington was determined, however, not to make Caxton’s sexual orientation a hollow gimmick. “Caxton being gay has very little to do with her character. I didn't even know she was gay until I wrote the scene near the beginning of 13 Bullets when she comes home from work and climbs into bed. I said, okay, there's somebody in the bed already waiting for her. It turned out to be another woman, which surprised me as much as anybody.”<br /><br />“I’ve gotten a lot of very nice comments from individuals saying that they appreciate the fact that Caxton is gay,” Wellington continues. “But that doesn't define who she is. I fully expected some kind of backlash, but it turns out that the kinds of people who read books are also the kind of people who live in the 21st century.” <br /><br />This type of deep, nuanced characterization is one of the hallmarks of Wellington’s work. From the adolescent girl soldiers in Monster Island, to an incarcerated baby killer in 23 Hours, to a conflicted lycanthrope in Frostbite, the author fills his novels with consistently well-rounded and motivated cast members. “I'm the kind of guy who, if I see somebody on the subway train wearing a bizarre hat, I need to know why he put that hat on. And because you can't just ask people, I end up making up my own story.”<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/THPk4cyfokI/AAAAAAAAAbM/TMR1gh9sLLg/s1600/bg_plague-zone.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 127px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/THPk4cyfokI/AAAAAAAAAbM/TMR1gh9sLLg/s400/bg_plague-zone.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5508998427656036930" /></a>“I do a fair amount of outlining beforehand, and a lot of research, but mostly it's about the characters,” Wellington explains. “The idea is usually a scene, or even just an image. Typically it will be the climax of the book, the last big scene. Then I work backwards thinking: How did those characters get into such a preposterous mess? When I reach the beginning, the moment when destiny conspired to put them in that scene or image, then I start typing.”<br /><br />For Laura Caxton, destiny, in the form of Wellington’s rich imagination, will continue to push her into the fray with 32 Fangs, due out in 2011. “I'm working on it right now,” he reveals.” Readers will recall that, at the conclusion of 23 Hours (see my review <a href="http://thecrawlspaceonline.blogspot.com/2010/06/23-hours-by-david-wellington.html">here</a>), Caxton was a fugitive from justice, breaking out of prison while also avoiding the clutches of the malevolent vampire Justina Malvern. “I don't want to give anything away, but there are plenty of other people involved in the plot now, and some of them are up to some surprising things.”<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFwyWiTnDuI/AAAAAAAAAXE/xGS5lsojqsk/s1600/monster-island-big.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFwyWiTnDuI/AAAAAAAAAXE/xGS5lsojqsk/s200/monster-island-big.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502328207487471330" /></a>In addition to his ongoing vampire marathon, the author has provided a free new online serial novel entitled Plague Zone, an original zombie adventure featuring a hero Wellington describes as “the toughest librarian in post-apocalyptic Seattle,” something the former Library Science major might know a little something about. Decidedly different from his Monster series zombies, these flesh eaters are more akin to victims of mad cow disease than anything supernatural.<br /><br />Beyond the releases of Overwinter and 32 Fangs, Wellington is decidedly non-committal about his future plans (“How about a vacation?"). While a break would be well deserved after redefining the zombie, vampire and werewolf subgenres, one can only wonder what comes next for the prolific writer. “I try never to predict the future,” he muses. “That way I'm never wrong.”Depraved Indifferencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13770858255423041643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203542572907588710.post-46529143071609295072010-07-06T10:43:00.000-07:002010-08-06T06:38:04.409-07:00Review/Spotlight: Boneshaker by Cherie Priest<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFwL55CQ-0I/AAAAAAAAAP8/Qz1zqOsfp_I/s1600/boneshaker.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFwL55CQ-0I/AAAAAAAAAP8/Qz1zqOsfp_I/s200/boneshaker.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502285933930675010" /></a>Written by Jess Peacock<br /><br />“My stuff tends to skew dark,” explains novelist Cherie Priest, author of the Hugo Award nominated novel Boneshaker. “But I’m comfortable with that. I kind of bounce around between genres.” Considered a vanguard of steampunk, Priest’s Boneshaker creates a densely imaginative alternate 1880 (“I don't let the facts get in the way of a good story”) where a large section of Seattle has been walled off from the rest of the world after a massive drill, the titular Boneshaker, inadvertently unleashes an ominous gas that transforms those who inhale it into the walking dead.<br /><br />More akin to the late 1960’s television series The Wild, Wild West (“It’s absolutely an early steampunk work”) than the typical Victorian-era British locales most associated with the subgenre, Boneshaker nevertheless delivers the expected trappings with crudely fabricated zeppelins, peculiar pneumatic powered weapons, and mechanized surgically grafted prosthetics. “Steampunk is a lot of fun,” Priest says. “It has these undercurrents of conservationism (it's very reduce/reuse/recycle in its philosophy), and it overlaps nicely with the do-it-yourself movement.”<br /><br />“There's a great deal of neat stuff going on in the subculture right now,” Priest continues. “It's really exploding all over the country, so I'm thrilled and proud to be part of it.” This upsurge in the popularity of steampunk is undoubtedly due in some small part to the hybridization of other genres found in Boneshaker. By infusing Romero-like walking dead into the mix, Priest cracks open the door to prospective readers who wouldn’t normally be concerned with the exploits of their goggle-wearing brethren. “Steampunk,” she lightheartedly explains, “is what happens when Goths discover brown.” For horror aficionados, however, the zombies of Boneshaker may prove wanting, as they exist more for nudging characters toward their narrative destinations, and less as a tangible threat to the cast of characters. Aside from one disposable individual succumbing to zombification (due to the gas and not an attack), the undead hordes in Boneshaker seem to be nothing more than a pointless piece of window dressing feigning horror legitimacy.<br /><br />This use of such a menagerie of styles can be traced back to Priest’s adolescence, where an appreciation for many of the classic genre writers may not have been encouraged by her family, but was certainly tolerated. “My first big influences were the horror and mystery writers of the nineteenth century, mostly Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle. Those were the first writers I loved. I wasn't allowed to read much fiction, but if it was old enough to qualify as ‘literature’ then sometimes I could get away with it.” These traditional brush strokes bleed through in Boneshaker, as the main villain Minnericht bears a distinct philosophical similarity to Professor Moriarty (as well as a physical one to Cobra Commander), the mysterious and brilliant arch-nemesis to Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFtDkMu0--I/AAAAAAAAAPU/pd-GPIwUyT4/s1600/priest.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 226px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFtDkMu0--I/AAAAAAAAAPU/pd-GPIwUyT4/s320/priest.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502065658935180258" /></a>Packed with such a potentially interesting cast culled from classic westerns and science-fiction stories alike, Boneshaker works overtime at creating its share of memorable players, not the least of these being the aforementioned Minnericht. “First and foremost, it has to be about people,” Priest explains of her work. “I’ve read some books with outstanding world building and magic systems, but they have no soul if they don't have characters for people to relate to.” Despite this mandate, while Boneshaker succeeds in creating an exquisitely organic world, it unfortunately fails to similarly render the characters inhabiting the story. Briar, the heroine, and her son Zeke show very little growth or internal development, accompanying the reader from one glorious steampunk set piece to the next with very little emotion or heart. Furthermore, while the protagonists interact with the astonishing and often alarming world around them, they ultimately have very little impact on their environment as a whole.<br /><br />This is not to say that Boneshaker entirely fails as a novel. At times, Priest’s prose succeeds as an epic work of family and loyalty, tapping into parental concerns of misshapen legacies, adolescent rebellion, and heartbreaking self-realization. Combined with the inspired world called forth in the novel, Boneshaker is at least deserving of the attention it has garnered, even if it shouldn’t be highly recommended to a darker audience.Depraved Indifferencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13770858255423041643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203542572907588710.post-74182730539750786522010-07-02T11:37:00.000-07:002010-08-06T06:38:14.810-07:00Review: Bite Me by Christopher Moore<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TC4yiM5XdwI/AAAAAAAAAHA/EgYEvH2ENDk/s1600/bite_me.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 134px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TC4yiM5XdwI/AAAAAAAAAHA/EgYEvH2ENDk/s200/bite_me.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5489380558969992962" /></a>Review written by Jess Peacock<br /><br />It has been 15 years since Christopher Moore introduced us to Jody and Flood, the titular characters of the delightful novel Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story. Since then, we have become acquainted with a motley supporting cast of characters, including an Emperor of San Francisco and his loyal canines, a raucous group of corner store employees tagged the Animals, a Hot Topic Goth girl with nosferatu dreams, a nefarious blue skinned Las Vegas stripper, a sadistic vampire Lord, and a pair of detectives who constantly find themselves way in over their well intentioned heads. So when Moore adds a giant vampire cat into the mix, suffice to say it seems perfectly fitting.<br /><br />Picking up right after the events of the second novel You Suck, Moore leans on the narration of the returning Abby Normal, a love struck vampire wannabe with delusions of dark poetic grandeur, to bring the reader up to speed. And while it is Normal’s somewhat annoying, often hilarious commentary that opens and concludes Bite Me, the story is still effectively that of Jody and Tommy’s passionate, albeit troubled relationship. Throughout the trilogy Moore has effectively mined the pitfalls of falling in love (Bloodsucking Fiends), finding balance and compromise in a committed relationship (You Suck), and now, with Bite Me, the author explores the uncertainty and heartache that can result when two people who love each other want different things in life, and the difficult choices they must make as a result.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFwNCb0SA7I/AAAAAAAAAQE/1TWEGnX9Fjk/s1600/moore.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 287px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFwNCb0SA7I/AAAAAAAAAQE/1TWEGnX9Fjk/s320/moore.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502287180217844658" /></a>Honestly, the plot of the book is thin to nonexistent, which is pretty much par for the course with Moore’s vampire series. Chet, the previously mentioned feline bloodsucker, is running riot throughout San Francisco while building an unstoppable undead cat army, and it falls on everyone involved to stop the encroaching menace. While there is a little more to it than that (a feral Tommy, a crispy Jody, and a rat tail on Abby), the focus of Bite Me is more concerned with bringing to a conclusion the intimate journey of our vampire lovers.<br /><br />Lest you assume that Moore has decided to cash in on the schmaltzy pseudo-Harlequin romance of the Twilight series, rest assured that Bite Me provides its share of blood, action, and signature bawdy humor that the “authorguy” is known for. Not to mention a fun cameo or two of other characters from the Mooreverse, including an entirely unexpected Rastafarian (hint, hint) spin on Bram Stoker’s Renfield.<br /><br />A pleasant return to form after the abysmal Fool (read my review <a href="http://thecrawlspaceonline.blogspot.com/2009/04/review-fool-by-christopher-moore_21.html">here</a>), Moore’s Bite Me is perverse, touching, and hilarious, often all within the same page, a fitting conclusion to an epic tale of undead love, hot monkey sex, and frozen turkey bowling.Depraved Indifferencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13770858255423041643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203542572907588710.post-63528862154620726222010-06-23T10:06:00.000-07:002010-08-06T06:38:25.549-07:00Review: Hater by David Moody<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TCI_dqSXeyI/AAAAAAAAAGA/wucs9d1URRc/s1600/hater.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 132px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TCI_dqSXeyI/AAAAAAAAAGA/wucs9d1URRc/s200/hater.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486017074890767138" /></a>Review written by Jess Peacock<br /><br />You have undoubtedly seen the faces and stories: The mother who suddenly drowns her two children in the bathtub. The dedicated father who shoots his family before turning the gun on himself. We ask how such seemingly well-adjusted people could suddenly turn so violent and so heinous as to brutally murder those they hold most dear? We reassure ourselves that we could never harm the ones we love, that we are above such societal aberrations. What would happen to our world, however, if half of the population did exactly that?<br /><br />Hater, written by David Moody, throws society into a chaotic tailspin after violent assaults by ordinary citizens, tagged Haters by the media, skyrocket. No rhyme or reason can explain who will suddenly attack, or who the victims will be. Before long, nobody can be trusted, and civil unrest quickly spreads in a riveting tale that is part 28 Days Later, part The Crazies.<br /><br />Moody personalizes the rapidly deepening paranoia by primarily focusing on the first person narration of Danny McCoyne, an everyday schlub struggling to support his young family with a monotonous, low paying city job (his daily routine is only slightly less horrific than the Haters). As the violent attacks spread, McCoyne holes up inside his home with one eye on the frustratingly vague news reports and the other on every potentially suspicious action of his wife, kids, and father-in-law.<br /><br />The looming division within McCoyne’s family is reflected in society at large. From gays vs. straights, liberals vs. conservatives, and religious fundamentalists vs. everyone else, we are growing increasingly wary and antagonistic of anyone who does not think exactly as we do. Moody simply upgrades these ideological clashes into physical attacks, highlighting the danger society is faced with when nuance and empathy are exchanged for a strict black and white, us versus them worldview.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFwNU3j_oyI/AAAAAAAAAQM/XiV6A5Wyq0c/s1600/moody.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 278px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vQ0UYQzVZbM/TFwNU3j_oyI/AAAAAAAAAQM/XiV6A5Wyq0c/s320/moody.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502287496903369506" /></a>While based in the U.K., Hater has presciently tapped into the current political and cultural zeitgeist in the United States. Abhorrent rhetoric, while always existing in American society, has reached a critical mass coupled with mainstream legitimacy as of late. While aggressive lines have already been drawn symbolically in our culture, one must wonder how long we can keep the logical next step at bay.<br /><br />Without spoiling the fun, it must be noted that Hater takes a sudden sharp turn part way through the novel, forcing the reader back on his heels and elevating the story from clever horror fare to an ingenious psychological and spiritual metaphor. However, at the risk of leaving too many clues, a deeper discussion on the importance of the twist will have to wait for the upcoming Dog Blood (book two) review.<br /><br />While the journey of Hater from self-published phenomenon to pet production project of genre powerhouse Guillermo del Toro could easily outshine the power of the story, Moody has managed to invest in his novel a message of modern importance that should continue to resonate for years.Depraved Indifferencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13770858255423041643noreply@blogger.com